LONDON, March 24, 2008 – The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) has demanded that the Government clarify its approach to the deportation of gay people to Iran after a spokesman in the House of Lords claimed there was no evidence that gays were being executed because of their sexuality.
“It is quite extraordinary that the Minister can claim that there is no evidence of gays being executed in Iran,” GALHA spokesman Jim Herrick said this morning.
“He seems more inclined to believe the propaganda of the Iranian authorities than the independent reports of organisations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch which testify to the risk of execution faced by gay Iranians.
“GALHA is writing to the Home Secretary, Jacquie Smith, asking for clarification of the Government's stance on this issue, Mr. Hendrick added.
Lat week, during a debate on ssylum seekers, Lord West of Spithead, who is Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office, said: “We are not aware of any individual who has been executed in Iran recently solely on the grounds of homosexuality, and we do not consider that there is systematic persecution of gay men in Iran.” [Hansard 18 Mar 2008 : Column 142]
Despite being challenged by fellow peers, the Minister continued to insist that there is no evidence that “any individual having been executed solely on the grounds of homosexuality”.
A week previously, Lord Avebury drew to the Government’s attention the case of Makwan Mouloudzadeh, a teenager who was executed for a homosexual offence allegedly committed when he was 13.
Lord West responded by saying that in the case of the two teenagers whose execution was shown on television, “they were hanged because they were found guilty of raping a 13 year old boy. They were hanged for the offence of rape” [Hansard 11 Mar 2008 : Column 1400]
■ On Saturday, some 150 protestors gathered in Whitehall near Downing Street on Saturday calling on the government to halt the deportation of gay Iranian asylum seeker Mehdi Kazemi, and a review of the UK’s asylum system that fails to recognise sexuality as a specific grounds for refugee status. Report HERE
SEE ALSO
Deportation of Gays to Iran Again Raised in Parliament as Lib Dems Apply Pressure. The Government is coming under pressure from members of both houses of Parliament, mainly Liberal Democrats, to “come clean” about policies on who are deported to Iran – especially gay men and women. (UK Gay News, March 19, 2008)
Gay Iranian in Europe: Mehdi Says ‘Thank You’. Mehdi Kazemi, the 19-years-old gay Iranian currently in a Netherlands detention centre awaiting removal to the UK where, until yesterday he was concerned that he would be immediately returned to Iran, has this morning thanked his many supporters throughout the world. (UK Gay News, March 14, 2008)
Home Secretary to Review Case of Gay Iranian Teen As Euro Parliament Backs Mehdi. The UK Government is to review the case of Mehdi Kazemi after the European Parliament expressed its support for a motion tabled by Michael Cashman MEP. (UK Gay News, March 14, 2008)
Gays in Iran: Lib Dems Attack Home Office While Peers Quiz Government. The Home Office needs to understand that gay men and women face arrest and execution in Iran, the Liberal Democrats for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equality group DELGA said last night. (UK Gay News, March 12, 2008)
Gay Iranian Teen Loses Appeal in Netherlands Court – To Be Returned to UK. Cashman Takes Plight of Mehdi to the European Parliament. Mehdi Kazemi, the 19-years-old gay Iranian has lost his fight to remain in the Netherlands, a Dutch judge ruled this afternoon. His uncle, Saeed, was told the news by the Dutch lawyer on the telephone. (UK Gay News, March 11, 2008)
Christmas Gift from Netherlands for Gay Iranian – One Way Ticket to UK. It was not the Christmas present that a young gay Iranian wanted. A court in the Netherlands has ruled that Mehdi, the gay Iranian teenager, has to be returned to the United Kingdom, where he faces deportation back to Iran. (UK Gay News, December 24, 2008)
Gay Iranian Teen Awaits Decision of Dutch Court Over Return to UK. A young gay Iranian, who fled the United Kingdom in fear after his asylum application with the Home Office’s Border and Immigration Agency failed earlier this year, will be spending the festive season hoping that a Dutch court will allow him to stay in the Netherlands. (UK Gay News, December 21, 2007)
They Hang Gay Teenagers, Don’t They? A gay Iranian teenager whose asylum claim was denied in the UK fled to the Netherlands, and then to Germany. The Germans returned him to the Dutch, who are now threatening to return him to the Brits, who have already decided to return the gay teenager to Iran. And you know what they do to gay teenagers in Iran, right? (Seattle Stranger - USA, December 20)
Young Gay Iranian Soon on His Way Back to UK? Mehdi, the young gay Iranian who fled the United Kingdom in April, could be back in the country within weeks, his uncle revealed last night. (UK Gay News, October 17, 2007)
Nineteen Year Old Says ‘I Am an Iranian Gay’. The following email has been received by the IRanian Queer Organisation in Toronto from a young gay man who was studying at school in UK and, after difficulties with the UK Home Office over asylum managed to flee England, ending up in the Netherlands. The letter is published here as written. (UK Gay News, September 26, 2007)
Don’t Leave Iranian Gays Abandoned. By Mehdi. This article was written by a 19-years-old gay Iranian who tells how, while he was a student in London, his boyfriend back home was executed for being gay. Mehdi says he was scared of returning home and meeting the same fate when his student visa expired last year – and of his asylum application to the Home Office. (UK Gay News, April 18, 2007)
